COLUMN: Wolves' encounters with Boots, his Coyotes were memorable

He was a great coach. The retiring University of South Dakota men’s basketball coach did not mince words, and he demanded excellence from his players because he wanted the best for each.

He loved them so much he wasn’t afraid to make them strive for their best.

He was one of the nation’s winningest coaches, but better yet, he seemed to be a man who taught young people good lessons not only about basketball, but life. And no amount of wins can stack up to a teacher who taught his students well.

With practice set to start in only weeks, Boots’ resignation came as a surprise to most people. But the winning teams he managed to put on the floor year-after-year were not.

Boots, 57, has the most coaching wins (503-235) in USD history. He led the Coyotes to 23 consecutive winning seasons from 1989-2011, 10 NCAA Division II tournaments, six North Central Conference championships and back-to-back Elite Eight appearances in 1993 and 1994.

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In 32 seasons as a head college men’s basketball coach, Boots collected 618 wins and 298 losses. He has the 14th-most wins (603) in Division II history and is a seven-time conference coach of the year honoree.

Northern State played USD only three times during Boots’s 25 years with the Coyotes. All three were memorable:

It was NSU’s third-straight overtime game — all against North Central Conference opponents.

After building a 87-79 overtime lead, South Dakota survived a 6-0 NSU run late in overtime when the Wolves got back-to-back three-pointers from Sundance Wicks and Jarod Obering with 46 seconds left. The Coyotes finished the closing 37 seconds of the game 8-for-8 from the free-throw line to ice the game. Wicks scored 28 for NSU; Tommie King 29 for USD.

Dec. 13, 2003: USD came into Wachs Arena undefeated and ranked third in the nation.

It left Aberdeen with a 69-57 loss and two injured players.

“We competed and played hard, but we missed a ton of layups and free throws (10),” NSU coach Don Meyer said. “And we had a lot of turnovers (16). This team is so far from being as good as it can be. It is one thing to be cutting up the fries at McDonald's, but it is another thing to run the company. That is what it is like for some of our guys. They have new roles, and it has been tough filling them. It is time for them to step up.”

NSU got a combined 30 points from inside guys Aaron Busack and Taite Plaas, which paved the way for outside shooters like Jarod Obering, who scored 19.

It was a tough night physically for the Coyotes. Midway through the third quarter, they lost starting junior guard Luke Tibbetts of Sioux Falls with a knee injury.

With about 3-1/2 minutes left in the game, Josh Mueller seemed to almost lose consciousness after he ran into NSU's Dustin Hjelmeland, who had set a screen. Mueller was guarding Steve Smiley, who was bringing the ball up the court, and there were no USD teammates around to warn Mueller that Hjelmeland was there. Mueller didn't return and still looked injured after the game when Hjelmeland and his teammates came over to check on him and shake his hand.

March 15, 2008: This was USD’s last season in DII.

And when NSU beat the Coyotes 70-69 in Winona in the first round of the national tournament, it also turned out to be USD’s last game as a DII program.

Kevin Ratzsch of NSU scored to give the Wolves a 60-43 lead with 11 minutes left in the game. With 67 seconds left, USD led 69-66.

Ratzsch made two free throws with nine seconds left to give NSU the win. Ratzsch ended with 24 points and 12 rebounds.

In the press conference after the game, a reporter asked NSU coach Don Meyer what he was thinking about when the Coyotes were rallying.

“I was thinking about how I needed to get my resume together,” Meyer said.

Safety bites back

Friends and family were after me for years to wear a helmet when I was bicycling.

After I relented, they got on me for not wearing that same helmet along with safety glasses on my scooter. Again, I relented and started wearing both this year.

Wednesday morning on the scooter ride into work on the overpass, a bee flew into my helmet, dropped into my safety glasses where it was trapped and started stinging the crap out of me around my eye.

All this happened while I was driving a scooter at 30 mph over a bridge.

Bud Grant book

Bud Grant’s new book, “I Did It My Way: A remarkable journey to the Hall of Fame,” is out.

It was written by Grant and Jim Bruton, with the foreward by Sid Hartman and the intro by Fran Tarkenton. Check with your local book store or triumphbooks.com.

Grant coached the Minnesota Vikings to four Super Bowls, 11 division titles and to a 158-96-5 record in 18 seasons.

John Papendick is the managing news-sports editor for the American News: jpapendick@aberdeennews.com.